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I have managed to find a few laptops with Intel gfx with 1600x900 displays but not one with Intel gfx and a Full HD screen. It seems every laptop with a 1080-capable display also has discrete (NV or Ati) gfx. OEMs don't consider my micro-niche when it comes to laptops it seems!

They exist in HP's offerings. There are 15.6-inch laptops with full HD and Intel HD graphics and 17-inch notebooks exist but have to be custom ordered as default configs are almost always discrete graphics but some models can downgrade to integrated graphics. Occasionally, you can find such laptops in stores - but not listed on HP's website - and buy them. Same with other manufacturers.

Turns out that Dell produce laptops with 1080-capable displays with Intel GFX but only with 13" screens, which at that size seems like a waste to me as I'd need to squint to see small text, if I could read it at all, so I should add to my required spec 'at least a 15" display @ 1600x900 or higher'.

You can also connect external LCD. Using 15'' laptop screen long time isn't comfortable.

Why oh why do most laptops still only have 1366x768 screens in 2013? Its no better than what we had in 1993. You'd think they'd say "Oh look! Most smartphones have HD screens now so maybe we'd better update our laptop displays so as to make them worthwhile for consuming 12x the space and power to bring them into the 21st century". Nope!

Tell me about it. I'm also looking for a good AMD powered laptop and I'm frustrated that everything in a good size is 1366x768. Unless you special order them or go for the 17"+ laptops (and I have no use for those) you are stuck.

The Vivobook I won't consider, like the Dell FHD ultrabooks, for having a 13" screen. I realise I can plug these machines into an external HDMI display but that won't always be available as an option so I want a decent sized (15"+) internal display.

MSI GX60, at least the model I found that had ATi, suffered from having an A4 CPU.

TheLexMachine:

I have been unable to find any real laptop customization options on HP's UK website. If you know where such a page is then please link it!

Pseus:

I was aware of System76 but didn't consider them as I didn't think they shipped to the UK but thats no longer the case it seems although I don't know how much I'll be paying to have it flown over the pond yet. Provided they don't charge silly money for the postage, the Gazelle Pro upgraded to 8GB and an i7 would seem my best bet. Not only does it work out cheaper than the Vaio E17, it has the plus points of not forcing me to pay for a copy of Windows I'll never use and I've never forgiven Sony for stealing Linux from PS3 users and selling that console under false pretenses (Look! Its a computer too! <sneaky firmware update> Now its not - haha!).

I don't know if i am too late to answer you but I use Samsung Ativ Book 8 with Intel Core i5-3230M processormAMD Radeon HD 8850M, 8 GB RAM, FULLHD screen. It works great with ubuntu 12.04 so it should be good.

Sammys Activebooks are extremely nice, 'tho a bit expensive. Most likely I'll get one with I7 and 8870 HD. Two main problems with recent Sammys are unstable WiFi (this one is more related to Intel WiFi card than Samsung) and not so positive approach to Linux installed on their systems.
For something reasonably priced with hi-res screen and i7 i'd recommend Dell Vostro 3560. It has nice features, reasonable price, good warranty terms (it's business line after all) and Dell doesn't mind selling it with other OSes (Ubuntu, RHEL) so no MS tax.

I have been unable to find any real laptop customization options on HP's UK website. If you know where such a page is then please link it!

Sorry. It looks like HP UK is just a subsidiary and doesn't offer the same level of service that the US branch does. I don't know if they will ship to the UK but maybe you can find some way to get your product shipped to you from a friend in the US or something. I dunno. There really doesn't seem to be any good options for you UK folk.

The Ativ book 8 looks like it would be a good choice for someone who wants a top end AMD GPU and is willing to pay extra for it but thats not me. I'd prefer the i4600 graphics of the Gazelle Pro, mainly because it will be cooler and quieter but also because I've had the best experience with Intel out of all the open source drivers.

Xeno:

The 3560 only seems to be available with Win 7 or 8 in the UK and it is said to have a 'HD' screen which usually means 1366x768 which, like most Phoronix readers it seems, I believe to be a sick joke of a spec in 2013. It deserves to have died an unceremonious death a decade or so ago. I was originally only specifying 1600x900 (HD+) and up but now I think I have to insist on FullHD and 15"+ as minimum display specs so that my phones display doesn't take the piss out of my new laptop.